Helicoidal plow



J. N. NEWSOM HELICOIDAL PLOW Feb. 4, 1936.

Filed Jan. 21, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 L3? v Q77 J. N. NEWSOM HELICOIDAL PLOW Feb. 4, 1936.

Filed Jan. 21, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 m C] D ill Patented Feb. 4, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 7 Claims.

My invention relates in general to plows. It relates more in particular to the type of plow employing helicoidal blades of the general character described in prior Patent No. 1,836,984.

This prior patent employs a helicoidal blade having a definite type of construction to secure a desirable function or result in its action upon the ground. Although the construction disclosed in such patent in general produces results superior to those obtained by conventional types of plows, I found that something more could be accomplished in improving the result, particularly in leaving the earth in a more pulverulent condition after the plow has passed through it.

The principal object of my present invention is to provide an improved plow of the character described.

Another object is the provision of a. helicoidal plow having improved action in breaking up the earth.

Another object is the provision of a plow of the character described'which will operate more satisfactorily on hard packed and clayey soil than plows of this character heretofore produced.

Another object is the provision of a plow of this character which can be employed in substan-- tially any type of soil and utilized for substantially any plowing operation.

Other objects and features of the invention will be apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description taken with the accompanying drawings, wherein Fig. 1 is a plan view showing a plow constructgd in accordance with my present invention;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view through the plow blade;

Fig. 3 shows the use of two plow blades, one having a construction identical to that shown in Fig. 1 and one having a modified construction employing the same principles; and

Fig. 4 is a modification of the arrangement shown in Fig. 3.

In general, my invention comprises the use of a helicoidal blade in which one side of the helix is cupped and the blade inclined so that when drawn forward the earth is caused to enter the cup portion of the helix. A further feature of the design is that the direction of the spiral or helix is such that when the blade rolls in contact with the ground as it is drawn forward at an angle, the entering edge of the helix, that is the portion of the helix which is cutting into the soil, will continuously move toward the end of the blade which is furthermost advanced; in other words,

toward the end of the blade toward which the cups face. More specifically in this design, a right hand helix will turn toward the left and concomitantly a left hand helix will turn toward the right as distinguished from the prior patent, 5 and assuming that the blade is viewed from the same or corresponding end in each case. In each plow, however, the blade will be drawn through the ground at an angle and the angularity will be such and the shape of the blade such that the 10 cup portion of the helix will be working into the ground first, but the results will vary for reasons to be described.

My construction differs from the prior patent hereinabove referred to in the following respect. 1:; In this prior patent, the blade with the right hand thread or helix would roll to the right and the blade with the left hand helix or thread would roll to the left. It is apparent that this difference in construction produces a radically differ- 20 ent result or operation. As will be more fully pointed out, with my present construction the blade moves against the soil while in the prior construction the blade moves away from the soil. When the blade moves toward the soil it has a 25 greater action in lifting up and shearing the earth which enters'the cup portion of the helixes and leaves the ground in a much more pulverulent condition in which the individual furrows produced by the helixes are substantially non- 30 recognizable. Insofar as they are recognizable they run at an angle to the line of draft rather than parallel thereto. In the prior construction, a distinct furrow can be detected, one for each helix, and the earth is turned over in each fur- 35 row in a manner very similar to the plow action of an ordinary share plow. While there may be times when it may be desirable to have this substantially truly share action of the prior patent, in general it is found more desirable to break 40 the earth up to a greater extent as is accomplished by my design.

Now referring to Figs. 1 and 2, I show a fragmentary frame l0 into portions of which shaft I I of the helicoidal blade is journaled. The shaft 45 is provided with replaceable share sections as shown which together make up a complete helix l2. The individual helixes are cupped in the manner indicated so that when the blade is placed at an angle and drawn in the direction indicated 50 by the dotted line indicated in Fig. 1, the earth will enter the cup shaped portions of the helixes. A cupped disc I 3 is placed at one end of the helix and secured to shaft II.

It will be noted that the helicoidal blade shown in Figs. 1 and 2 has a right hand spiral. When this blade is drawn through the ground, however, it is given a rotary movement in a left hand or counter-clockwise direction looking from the disc and of the blade. Assuming that the blade is moving forward, any particular portion of the blade would be expected to follow the dotted line AshowninFig. 1. Duetothefaotthatthe blade is revolving in a counter-clockwise direction, however, the entering edge of a particular helix will follow the dotted line B. In other words, the cut instead of being in a straight line parallel to the direction of movement is along a line inclined to the direction line. This movement is into the soil, that is so as to move the cup shaped portion of the helix progressively against the soil. This diflers from the action in the patent referred to above in that the spiral in the prior case revolved away from the soil as the blade rolled in advancing. In the same way, the rear portion of any particular helix would normally be expected to follow the dotted line C of Fig. 1, which is parallel to the direction of movement of the blade as a whole. Again, due to the rolling action of the blade, however, and the manner in which it works into the soil, it follows the line D which is inclined to the line C. In other words, the back part of each helix works toward the right and exerts an action on the earth which causes it to break up in a much more finely divided condition than when helicoidal blades of the prior art are employed.

It will be noted that the angle of each shear blade (the shear blade can be figured as part of the helix) as set to the line of draft is somewhat less than in the customary construction. This would indicate that less work is done by the blade of my invention than with the blades of the prior art, particularly the blade'shown in the patent mentioned heretofore. The movement of the share into the soil in the manner described above, however, produces the effect of quite a wide angle, and actually accomplishes considerably more work than a blade, the shares of which are at a greater angle to the line of draft but which does not have the action of continually moving into or against the soil as my blade does. As a result, it would be expected that there is considerable side draft or end thrust on a blade as illustrated. This is found to be the case, although the side thrust is not as great as would be expected for the amount of work accomplished. It will be understood that any suitable means customarily used in the art for avoiding side thrust can .be used. This use will be necessary, of course, only when a single blade is employed as shown in Fig. 1.

In Fig. 3, I show the use of two helicoidal blades mounted together and co-operating with each other, both blades employing the principles of my present invention. The blade H shown on the left of the drawings is identical with the blade shown in Fig. 1 including the cup shaped disc I5. Its shaft is supported by a suitable frame IS in which it is freely revolvable and the frame I6 is loosely connected to a main frame I! having a double-tree action. This frame is shown more or less schematically, as the present invention relates to the construction of the helicoidal blade per se.

If the blade I4 is studied, it will be seen that it has a right hand thread and that in rolling, when drawn forward it moves in a left hand .or counter-clockwise direction when viewed from the disc end. Opposite the blade I4, I mount the a. frame It, and the frame I! isagain connected -tothemainframell. Theplateltalsohasa disc 2| and employs the same principles as the blade I4, but being on the opposite side and having an opposite slant or pitch, the helixes are left hand in shape similar to a left hand screw and the blade moves in a right hand direction.

In Fig. 4 the helicoidal blade 2| is of the left hand type but rolls to the right while the blade 22 is of the right hand type and rolls to the left. The shafts of these blades also support cup shaped discs'23 and 24 respectively. The discs are at the rea'rmost ends of the blades as in the prior figures. The position at which the blades are placed, however, brings the discs to the inside of the blades rather than to the outside as in Fig. 3. The .principle employed throughout, obviously, is the same as previously described.

What I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A plow comprising a shaft, a cupped helicoidal blade supported on the shaft and a cup shaped disc supported on the shaft at one end of the helicoidal blade, and means for rotatably supporting said shaft at an angle to a line of draft with the disc end occupying the rearmost position, whereby the blade and disc will roll when drawn forwardly, the direction of the helixes being opposite to the direction in which the blade rolls when viewed from the disc end thereof.

2. A plow for roads and heavy soils, comprising a shaft, a helicoidal blade supported on the shaft, and means for drawing said shaft along a given line of draft and for rotatably supporting said shaft in a substantially horizontal position at an acute angle to the line of draft whereby the blade will roll when drawn forwardly, said blade being cupped and having its inner faces facing the advanced end of said shaft and having its helixes as followed in a direction opposite to the direction of their rotation extending from the rear end to the advanced end of said shaft, said helix being closed from its periphery to the shaft throughout its length and said shaft and helix being of a strength'adequate for being drawn through heavy soils and the like and the lower half of each helix being so shaped and positioned that as the assembly is drawn along the line of draft the blades engage the earth and draw themselves down into the earth and at the same time rotate said shaft and turn over the earth which it dislodges.

3. A plow for roads and heavy soils, comprising a shaft, a helicoidal blade supported on the shaft, and means for drawing said shaft along a given line of draft and for rotatably supporting said shaft in a substantially horizontal position at an acute angle to the line of draft whereby the blade will roll when drawn forwardly, said blade being cupped and having its inner faces facing the advanced end of said shaft and having its helixes as followed in a direction opposite to the direction of their rotation extending from the rear end to the advanced end of said shaft, said helix being closed from its periphery to the shaft throughout its length and said shaft and helix beblade l8, this blade having a shaft supported by ing of a strength adequate for being drawn 7 through heavy soils and the like and the lower half of each helix being so shaped and positioned with their cupped faces presented to their line of movement that as the assembly is drawn along the line of draft the blades engage the earth and draw themselves down into the earth and at the same time rotate said shaft and turn over the earth which it dislodges.

4. A plow for roads and heavy soils, comprising a shaft, a helicoidal blade supported on the shaft, and means for drawing said shaft along a given line of draft and for rotatably supporting said shaft in a substantially horizontal position at an acute angle to the line of draft whereby the blade will roll when drawn forwardly, said blade being cupped and having its inner faces facing the advanced end of said shaft and having its helixes as followed in a direction opposite to the direction of their rotation extending from the rear end to the advanced end of said shaft, said helix being closed from its periphery to the shaft throughout its length and said shaft and helix being of a strength adequate for being drawn through heavy soils and the like and the lower half of each helix being so shaped and positioned entirely on the plowed side of the line of cut of the forward edge of said helix that as the assembly is drawn along the line of draft the blades engage the earth and draw themselves down into the earth and at the same time rotate said shaft and turn over the earth which it dislodges.

5. A plow for roads and heavy soils, comprising a shaft, a helicoidal blade supported on the shaft, and means for drawing said shaft along a given line of draft and for rotatably supportin said shaft in a substantially horizontal position at an acute angle to the line of draft whereby the blade will roll when drawn forwardly, said blade being cupped and having its inner faces facing the advanced end of said shaft and having its helixes as followed in a direction opposite to the direction of their rotation extending from the rear end to the advanced end of said shaft, said helix being closed from its periphery to the shaft throughout its length and said shaft and helix being of a strength adequate for being drawn through heavy soils and the like and the lower half of each helix being so shaped and positioned that as the assembly is drawn along the line of draft the blades engage the earth and draw themselves down into the earth and at the same time rotate said shaft and turn over the earth which it dislodges and lying generally at an angle to the line of draft less than the angle of repose of the substance worked upon whereby said substance will readily slide along the blade.

6. A plow for roads and heavy soils, comprising a shaft, a helicoidal blade supported on the shaft, and means for drawing said shaft along a given line of draft and for rotatably supporting said shaft in a substantially horizontal position at an acute angle to the line of draft whereby the blade will roll when drawn forwardly, said blade being cupped and having its inner faces facing the advanced end of said shaft and having its helixes as followed in a direction opposite to the direction of their rotation extending from the rear end to the advanced end of said shaft, said helix being closed from its periphery to the shaft throughout its length and said shaft and helix being of a strength adequate for being drawn through heavy soils and the like and the lower half of each helix being so shaped and positioned that as the assembly is drawn along the line of draft the blades engage the earth and draw themselves down into the earth and at the same time rotate said shaft and turn over the earth which it dislodges, and said helix having such a pitch as to loosen said dirt substantially uniformly along the area traversed by said plow.

'7. A plow for roads and heavy soils, comprising a shaft, a helicoidal blade supported on the shaft, and means for drawing said shaft along a given line of draft and for rotatably supporting said shaft in a substantially horizontal position at an acute angle to the line of draft whereby the blade will roll when drawn forwardly, said blade being cupped and having its inner faces facing the advanced end of said shaft and having its helixes as followed in a direction opposite to the direc- .tion of their rotation extending from the rear end to the advanced end of said shaft, said helix being closed from its periphery to the shaft throughout its length and said shaft and helix being of a strength adequate for being drawn through heavy soils and the like and the lower half of each helix being so shaped and positioned that as the assembly is drawn along the line of draft the blades engage the earth and draw themselves down into the earth and at the same time rotate said shaft and turn over the earth which it dislodges, the lateral coverage of each being substantially equal to the distance between the lines of cuts of adjacent helixes.

JOSEPH N. NEWSOM. 

